Archives For August 2014

Screenplay is a new podcast hosted by Philip Martin, produced by Philip and print editor extrarodinaire, Karen Martin. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in on the first three episodes of their soft-launch while they shake things out. This week we got into the topic of faith-based films — hopefully providing more light than heat. Check out this edition of Screenplay (24mins). And if you have something to contribute to the conversation please comment here, at Soundcloud or on Philip’s blog: Blood, Dirt & Angels

Philip Martin is the award-winning film critic of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He oversees the Democrat-Gazette’s Movie Style section. While major markets around the nation are shuttering local coverage of the national film scene and cutting their critics loose, Philip remains a strong voice with a regional and national presence. He’s one of Rotten Tomatoes top critics. And he’s a good friend to me personally and filmmakers in general. I hope to sit down with Philip for a chat about film criticism that we can share with you in the near future.

A while back I sat with Academy Award winning screenwriter, Tom Schulman (DEAD POETS SOCIETY, WHAT ABOUT BOB?) to talk about making movies and the movie business. I asked Tom how he typically felt when actors finally brought life to his words after he’d spent so much time alone crafting a script. Here’s his reply with a nod to the great talent of Robin Williams.

“He was an addict and an alcoholic as well as a comedian, and you don’t find a lot of un-needy people in the sweet spot of that Venn diagram.” – Alex Pappademas, writing for Grantland

Raw. Honest. Profane. Respectful. Loving. Painful. Alex Pappademas’s essay (Knight Takes King: Remembering Robin Williams, 1951-2014) is the best thing you’ll read on the man’s talent and his struggle. It is authored by a fan and writer whose candor and perspective rebuke those would demonize Williams and restrains those who would canonize him. For most of us it’s only Williams’s talent and persona that will be missed — and those are relatively small parts of a human being, no matter how brightly they shine. Our hearts and prayers go out for those who knew him as husband, father, brother and friend — because they are truly bereft of a person we only knew from one angle.